Benefits

The Butte Regional Conservation Plan will provide benefits to a wide range of entities and stakeholders including:

Cities/County and General Public

Agriculturalists

Environmentalists

Land Developers

Benefits to Cities/County and General Public

Expedited Infrastructure and Public Facility Construction:
The BRCP will result in expedited delivery of needed roadway and pedestrian safety improvements, construction of needed public facilities such as parks and schools, and increased funding for open space acquisition.

Community Aesthetics:
Large preserves will protect viewsheds and will provide buffers so that communities can maintain their distinctive identities.

Present & Future Generations:
The BRCP will protect open space, our diverse landscape of working farms and ranches, and our region's rich biological resources for future generations to enjoy.

Benefits to Agriculturalists

Agricultural Preservation:
Provides for the long-term protection of the working landscape of farms and ranches in Butte County.

Agricultural Conservation Easements:
Addresses protection of wildlife habitat on agricultural and range lands through willing sellers and use of agricultural conservation easements.

Agricultural Stewardship:
Keeps agricultural and range land ownership primarily in the hands of private landowners whose prior stewardship resulted in viable habitat for many sensitive species.

Funding Included for Management and Monitoring of Conservation Lands = Good Neighbors:
The BRCP is required to ensure sufficient funding for the proper management and monitoring of BRCP conservation lands, and will also include funding to improve management practices for certain existing lands that are currently being poorly managed. This includes funding for maintenance of fencing, service roads, invasive species control, weed abatement, etc. and will help ensure that BRCP conservation lands are "good neighbors"

Benefits to Environmentalists

Large scale conservation:
Effective landscape-scale conservation avoids postage stamp preserves that may not retain biological values over the long-term.

Multi-species and Habitat Protection:
The BRCP will protect a broad diversity of species and habitats and encompass large geographic areas.

Effective Conservation:
Will provide an effective means to protect and manage species and habitat resources.

Adaptive Management:
Biological resource management actions that do not meet goals will be modified under the adaptive management program.

Benefits to Land Developers

Streamlined Regulatory Compliance:
State and federal Endangered Species Act "incidental take" permits will be issued by the city or county jurisdiction under which the project occurs, not by USFWS, DFG or NMFS. Coordination with USFWS, NMFS and DFG will generally not be necessary to receive ESA permits under the BRCP; coordination with USACE for use of the BRCP Regional General Permit will be greatly minimized. This will result in substantial and significant streamlining of the environmental permitting process for land developers reducing time and costs.

Reduced Costs:
Comprehensive regional mitigation plans reduce time spent, analysis carried out and discussions with regulatory agencies by land developers to achieve individual project mitigation, which in turn reduces time and costs.
Certainty:
Mitigation requirements and fees are known ahead of time, allowing land developers to incorporate costs into early project planning and financing.